It’s easier than you think to make a delicious baked sweet potato! With a foolproof method, you’ll be able to bake sweet potatoes recipe in no time! These baked sweet potatoes are sweet and fluffy on the inside with wonderfully crispy skin, making them the ideal side dish for any occasion. You can choose sweet or savory — the option is yours! If there were ever an excellent side dish for any meal, it would have to be the roasted sweet potato. Unlike a regular baked potato, the sweet potato can be sweet or savory, has a high nutritional value, and is possibly the most kid-friendly vegetable.
After being baked, you can serve the sweet potatoes with any meat and try topping it with candied yams for the holidays! Pierce the sweet potato skin with a fork, put it in aluminum foil, and bake for an hour at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid burning the sweet potato cubes, toss them before cooking. A tossing motion will also ensure that the food is cooked evenly.
The Best Baked Sweet Potato Recipe
In our house, sweet potatoes are a must-have. They’re a blank canvas for a variety of flavor combinations! Baked sweet potatoes are one of the best ways to prepare this starchy vegetable. Wrapping them in foil makes cleanup more straightforward, but it also locks in the steam, resulting in soft and fluffy potatoes. If you want the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes to shine through, roasting is preferable to boiling. Here is the best baked sweet potato recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 pound of sweet potatoes and four medium-sized potatoes (about)
- Optional: 2 tbsp olive oil
- One teaspoon salt, if desired
- 12 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Rinse, Scrub, and Poke
Because these root vegetables are grown underground, make sure you properly rinse and scrub them before baking, especially if you plan to consume the skin. The skin contains more fiber than the flesh and will provide you with additional nourishment. After rinsing and scraping, use a big fork to poke holes in the sweet potato. While baking in the oven, this process allows them to expel any surplus moisture. If you want to eat the skin, put a little oil over each and season with salt and pepper.
Wrap Potatoes in Foil
Cut large pieces of aluminum foil to wrap each potato at least twice. After that, wrap each sweet potato in aluminum foil. To thoroughly seal the potato, fold the ends of the foil over. Place the sweet potatoes wrapped in foil on a large baking sheet.
Bake in oven
Preheat the oven to 400°F and bake sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes. The oven’s optimal temperature for cooking sweet potatoes is 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and this temperature is just enough to cook the potatoes in under an hour without scorching them. If you have other foods to cook simultaneously, you can cook them in the oven at 350 to 450 degrees. Just make sure the cooking time is adjusted accordingly. The cooking time for larger sweet potatoes is closer to an hour, while the cooking time for tiny sweet potatoes is as low as 40 minutes. To see whether they’re done, poke the thickest portion of the potato with a fork or a knife to see if it’s tender.
Serve It Up
Once you’ve cooked them, it’s time to slice them open, fluff up the inside, and fill them with yummy ingredients:
- Add a tablespoon of butter or garlic herb butter.
- Sprinkle on some cinnamon and brown sugar. (This is my favorite way!)
- Mix up a savory spice blend with cumin, garlic powder, and paprika.
Tips and Tricks for the Best Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Choose sweet potatoes that are similar in size and shape so that cooking time is consistent.
Line your baking pan with parchment paper or foil to make cleanup easier. - Allow 5 minutes for potatoes to cool before serving.
- The calories in baked sweet potatoes are 143. So go ahead and fill these babies to the brim!
- Top with butter, salt, pepper, or sour cream and chives for a savory sweet potato.
- For a beautiful sweet version, top with butter, brown sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
- Dub Before cooking, remove all dirt with a vegetable brush if necessary.
- Make a few holes. When baking, this helps release the liquids so the potato doesn’t build up pressure and burst.
- Drizzle some oil on it. If you’re going to eat the skin for the fiber, season it with oil, salt, and pepper before eating it.
- What important is the width? Choose potatoes of similar sizes to ensure that they all cook simultaneously.
- Check to see if everything is finished. Always check the giant potato to see if it’s fully cooked.
What is the Healthiest Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes?
When opposed to roasting and steaming, boiling sweet potatoes may maintain most of their antioxidant activity. Microscopically, when comparing baking to boiling, boiling helps thin out the cell walls and gelatinize the starch, perhaps increasing nutrient bioavailability. At the same time, the glycemic index of boiled sweet potatoes is around half that of baked or roasted sweet potatoes, implying that boiled sweet potatoes cause more minor blood sugar surges.
But make careful to keep the skin on. The antioxidant potential of sweet potato skin is roughly ten times that of the flesh (an antioxidant capacity comparable to that of blueberries). However, baking depletes the nutritional value of the peel, wiping off roughly two-thirds of the antioxidants, whereas microwaving or boiling is considerably kinder. The rest of the sweet potato is the same way. Baking can also reduce vitamin A levels by 80%, twice as much as boiling. Cooking sweet potatoes by boiling rather than baking is advised from a nutritional aspect.
Although boiling sweet potatoes is supposedly the most excellent method to prepare them, sweet potatoes are so nutritious that the best way to prepare them is whatever will get you to eat the most of them! Deep frying is an exception, as it might result in the development of acrylamide, a possible human carcinogen.
Variations on Baked Sweet Potato Topping
This is when things start to get interesting. After baking your sweet potato, you can make various delectable dishes. Here are some suggestions:
Toppings for Traditional Baked Potatoes – sour cream, cheese, bacon, green onions. Whatever your heart desires! It’s also good just with butter, and if needed, substitute vegan sour cream or vegan butter.
I like to use butter, cinnamon, and salt to top my cooked sweet potatoes. A sprinkle of coconut sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup or honey can also provide a touch of sweetness. Use coconut butter instead of butter for a vegan alternative. It’s delicious!
Sweet Potato Skins with Cashew Sour Cream and Tempeh Bacon — Upgrade your game-day snack by stuffing sweet potato skins with sour cashew cream and tempeh bacon.
Dessert Baked Sweet Potato — The potato’s sweetness complements sweet toppings like coconut butter, almond butter, and chocolate.
Mexicali Filled Sweet Potato — Black beans, bell pepper, and mushrooms are stuffed into a sweet potato and topped with a tangy tahini sauce.
Scrambled Eggs-Add scrambled eggs and your favorite breakfast dishes for an upgraded morning! Breakfast sausage or bacon, shredded cheese, sliced avocado, and hot sauce would be my additions.
Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Stuff a couple of scoops of chili into the sweet potato’s middle. Enjoy with your favorite chili toppings.
Should you Eat the Skin of a Sweet Potato?
Sweet potatoes are a nutrient-dense food that goes well with various dishes. On the other hand, their peel rarely makes it to the dinner table, even though some say that it should be consumed because of its nutritious richness and distinct flavor. Raw and cooked sweet potato skins are both safe to eat. Because sweet potatoes are tubers that grow in the ground, it’s critical to wash the outer skin thoroughly to remove excess dirt, pesticides, or debris. Place your sweet potato under running water and scrape it with a vegetable brush to clean it.
You don’t have to be concerned about hurting their skin or flesh because their skins are resilient. Sweet potato skins are healthy to consume and may be used in various recipes. They’re high in fiber, other nutrients, and antioxidants, promoting intestinal health, boosting sensations of fullness, and helping avoid chronic disease. Keep the peel on your sweet potato if you want to get the most nutrition. Sweet potato skins are healthy to consume and may be used in various recipes.
Can You Eat Sweet Potatoes Every Day?
You may develop many unhealthy habits in a lifetime, but eating sweet potatoes every day is one of them. Sweet potatoes are low in calories and high in nutrients like beta-carotene, potassium, and fiber, making them an excellent complement to a healthy diet — whether you’re trying to lose weight or make better food choices. But be careful what you put in your sweet potato, and make sure you eat a diversified diet that includes a variety of colored plant foods.
With roughly 20 net carbohydrates per medium potato, sweet potatoes are starches, not low-carb veggies. If you’re watching your carbs, you might want to eat them only once in a while rather than every day. Also, sweet potatoes should not be your only vegetable choice on any given day. Green vegetables, such as broccoli, green beans, kale, and other greens, are low in carbohydrates and calories. Eating a rainbow of plant foods is the most significant way to maintain good health.
Conclusion
It’s critical to follow these recommendations while baking sweet potatoes for a good result. Wrap your sweet potatoes tightly and set them on a wide baking pan. Second, make sure they’re cooling on a wire rack. Finally, pierce the potatoes ten times in the oven to keep them from exploding. Finally, make sure the sweet potatoes are cooked through and fork-tender by carefully inspecting them.
These potatoes are healthy, but they are also considerably healthier than the French fries commonly seen in supermarkets. They contain a lot of beta-carotene, the same nutrient that makes carrots so tasty. Aside from that, sweet potato fries are a tasty way to add some healthful vegetables to your diet. Apart from offering them supper, they’re an excellent choice for every night of the week. They’re an inexpensive way to make your family happy!
